May 7, 2017
SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Diego State scored the winning run on a safety squeeze in the top of the 10th inning as it defeated San Jose State, 6-5, Sunday afternoon at Municipal Stadium in San Jose. It was the second consecutive extra-inning win for the Aztecs over the Spartans and allowed them to sweep not only the three-game weekend series but the full six-game slate against SJSU this season.
It was freshman Ryan Orr's one-out sacrifice bunt in the 10th that scored David Hensley from third base which proved to be the difference in the contest. Hensley had doubled to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a wild pitch. After a strikeout, Orr laid down a bunt toward first that allowed Hensley to score the winning run as SDSU improved to 34-16 overall and 17-7 in the Mountain West.
San Diego opened the scoring in the top of the fourth on a triple by Danny Sheehan and bunt single by Hensley.
The Spartans (15-30-1, 8-17-1 MW) tied the game right away as they put a run on the board in the bottom of the inning against Aztec starting pitcher Cody Thompson. The senior right-hander would go on to toss six innings allowing the one run on just one hit with three walks and six strikeouts. He would not, however, be involved in the decision.
SDSU re-took the lead in the fifth when Jacob Maekawa and Alan Trejo singled with one out before Maekawa scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Chase Calabuig to make it a 2-1 contest.
But again the Spartans tied the contest, this time with a run in the bottom of the seventh against sophomore reliever Harrison Pyatt.
The Aztecs appeared to put the game away when they scored three times in the top of the next frame on a two-run homer by Tyler Adkison plus a two-out RBI single by Maekawa that gave them a 5-2 advantage.
San Jose State, however, had different ideas as it put together a three-run rally of its own in the bottom of the eighth to knot the score at 5-5. Those runs came on two doubles, two singles and a pair of walks against a pair of Aztec relievers.
With two out and two on, senior lefty Marcus Reyes came on to pitch, and after allowing an infield single that did no damage, retired the next batter to end the inning. Reyes would pitch the final 2.1 innings for SDSU by setting down the last seven Spartan batters in the game after the single in the eighth. He would be credited with the victory to improve to 3-2 on the season.
Hensley would be the Aztecs' top hitter on the day as he recorded three hits including a double with an RBI and run scored. Sheehan (triple, two runs scored), Maekawa (RBI, run scored) and Jordan Verdon finished with two hits apiece with Adkison adding his 12th home run of the year.
San Diego State will now return home to prepare for next weekend's three-game conference series at Air Force. That set gets underway on Friday, May 12, with a game slated to begin at 3:00 p.m. (MT) at Falcon Field in Colorado Springs, Colo.